Blog Stage 2: Overview of the article, "Is the end near for straight ticket voting?", Feb 10th, 2017 by Charles Kuffner - Off the Kuff P

Hi Everyone! I think this article is an important read because it highlights a feature of the election process that has big implications on candidate selections. I think it also demonstrates a need for clear, easily accessed information about the plethora of candidates on our ballots. Visit here for the full article: Here

Straight ticket voting is an "interesting option" for voters on the Texas ballots. Voters are given the opportunity to select a "One and done" choice for voting preferences specific to either Republicans or Democrats. I voted in Texas for the first time during the November election, and I personally experienced the overwhelming nature of modern voting with candidate descriptions written in legalese, an annoying rotary phone like dialing knob that scrolled through my excessive list of hundreds of candidates, spanning dozens of political positions. About 75% of my way through, I thought "Okay... I see a straight ticket voting option, let's just do that."  I, unfortunately, imagine that other voters had similar experiences.

According to the Author of the article, Charles Kuffner, my concerns are shared by a warning from Texas Supreme Chief Justice Nathan Hetch. Chief Justice Hetch describes the process of straight ticket voting as being substantially impacted by the Presidential candidates on the Ticket. Indeed, further in the article, Kuffner describes a usual instance where straight ticket voting unintentionally leads to good candidates being dismissed, and damn near crazy individuals getting elected. According to the article, this type of voting also drastically limits third party effectiveness and allows the classic two-party system to stay in power.

I see two issues here. One, straight ticket voting allows us to be politically lazy, which results in further polarization of Democrats and Republicans, while simultaneously reinforcing the belief you are either Blue or Red, no other options exist. Two, we need clearer platform information for candidates, and the public needs to be educated on where to find that. We shouldn't have to scour google and filter out nonsense pages from reasonable sources. There should be a clear and politically uncharged resource for voters that spells out candidates beliefs without extremism. To make informed decisions as voters we need information that is as unbiased as possible.